The state released end-of-grade and end-of-course tests from last school year Thursday, and as expected, they were lower than past years in Alamance-Burlington schools and across the state.

“We have raised standards every five years or so for decades,” June Atkinson, Superintendent of North Carolina Public Schools, said in a release Thursday. “When we do this, test scores tend to drop during the first year.”

The state just started using these tests last school year.

Statewide, nearly 45 percent of students scored “proficient” on the tests.

Locally, nearly 40 percent of students scored “proficient.”

SEARCH FOR LOCAL SCHOOLS' RESULTS HERE

Third- through eighth-graders take end-of-grade tests to evaluate reading and math. Fifth- and eighth-graders also take science tests. High-school students take end-of-course tests in biology, English and math.

Nearly 30 percent of local eighth-grade students scored proficient in math. About 50 percent of eighth-graders were proficient in science, according to an ABSS press release.

The tests are now aligned to the Common Core State Standards, the set of education benchmarks adopted by 45 states covering reading and math, and the N.C. Essential Standards. That is the curriculum covering other subjects like science, history and social studies.

After three years of the new tests, the results of EOGs are supposed to have consequences for teachers and principals.

It takes three years of data to get a real idea of how students are doing under the new standards and methods.

After that, the state will have a baseline to assess how students and schools are improving.

The state and local district have said, many times, these scores cannot be compared to scores from earlier years since the standards have changed.

Other states that adopted the Common Core standards also have shown sharp drops in test scores.

In the next few years, these scores will go toward evaluating schools and teachers, but this year’s results are the beginning of a baseline.

The reforms that led to these new tests have come down from Raleigh and Washington in the past couple of years and include harder tests, regular evaluations, school and teacher accountability and new classroom priorities.

The state requires districts to give parents their children’s individual scores within 30 days, but ABSS has committed to having those scores to families by Nov. 15.

Starting in the next school year, the test scores will go to letter grades for schools and school districts.